Show HN: I built BodyCount to get an accurate 'number' | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I built BodyCount to get an accurate 'number'

bodycount.love

4 pointsdsstudios12 comments

For years, the question of my actual 'body count' was a nagging personal curiosity. My memory is fallible, and the common solutions—like keeping a list in a notes app or a spreadsheet—always felt insecure and strangely clinical. I wanted a tool built for this specific purpose: a private, secure space to finally get an accurate number.

So, I built BodyCount.

Once I started inputting my own data (the data my brain had long forgotten), the project evolved. It became less about the final sum and more about the story the data told. Visualizing the connections on a map and seeing patterns over time gave me a new perspective on my own history. It wasn't just a number; it was a private, personal dataset that I owned and controlled.

From a technical standpoint, privacy was the absolute priority. The goal was to create a space that felt significantly more secure than a standard cloud-based note. All data is stored privately, with a focus on ensuring user entries are for their eyes only.

I posted an earlier version here a couple of days ago and received some great feedback. A recurring theme was the desire for people to try it out without hitting a paywall. So, I've spent the last 48 hours implementing a freemium model. You can now log your first few connections and explore all the features for free to see if it's right for you.

The site is www.bodycount.love

I’d love to get your feedback on the new freemium flow and the overall concept. Is a private, data-driven dashboard a better solution than the old notes app method for this kind of personal data?

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Is this really necessary? It makes no sense.

I feel like I'm being Poe's Law'd here.

Couldn't this be a Google Form and a Google Sheet?

Totally. You could 100% use a Google Sheet for the raw numbers, and I know people who do.

For me, the motivation was purely selfish at first: I wanted to see the analytics without doing the work. I didn't want to have to mess with pivot tables or figure out a map API just to answer a personal question.

So this tool basically does all that data viz work for you. It auto-generates the map, the timeline, and charts for stats like nationalities, etc. It’s designed to surface interesting patterns automatically.

From an implementation standpoint, this is great! Definitely had a vibe coded feel to it, but I don’t have a problem with it. In terms of the service, I don’t understand the hyperfixation on privacy. It’s just tracking sexual encounters? I’ve probably had less than 15 sexual partners in my life and not really concerned with keeping track of it nor am I in a place where the actual number matters to me.

Clearly I am not the target demographic, but it seems like people who care about their body count don’t care about keeping it private. I haven’t done any research on this to know though. Good luck.

Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback! Really appreciate you taking the time to try it out and share your honest thoughts.

I'm curious about the 'vibe coded' comment - what specifically gave you that impression? I'd love to understand what made it feel that way so I can polish the experience for future users (and future projects). Any details you're willing to share would be incredibly helpful!

You make a great point about the privacy messaging. Looking back, I think I may have leaned too heavily into that angle. The real magic for me was actually discovering my exact count (turned out to be 77!) and then getting to play with the data in ways I never expected. Like finding out 2018 was apparently my peak year with 16 encounters, or that I'm averaging 4.8 per quarter since I started at 16. Those insights were genuinely surprising and fun to uncover.

I think I got caught up emphasizing privacy because it felt like such a sensitive topic, but you're right - maybe the more compelling story is about finally getting that accurate number and the entertaining visualizations that come with it. Do you think focusing on those benefits would resonate more with people than the privacy angle?

Also, I'm genuinely curious - even though you mentioned you're not the target demo, did any part of the data visualization or tracking concept appeal to you? Always trying to understand where the line is between 'useful tool' and 'solution looking for a problem.

Sorry, I’m confused - you didn’t know you have had sex with 77 partners before you made this app? I’m missing some key aspect of this service that allows you to remember something you have forgotten or are unaware of. Was the data written down somewhere else and you exported it into this app?

The vibe coded comment comes from the repetitive sections on the homepage (at least on mobile) and the use of React Lucide iconography. In every vibe code endeavor I’ve attempted, Lucide is the tool it always reaches for, whether I prompt it to create icons or not.

In terms of your question about privacy, I’m not the person to ask. I don’t care about body count and I can’t speak to what people who care about body count care about. It seems like an immature thing to keep track of, but that’s only my opinion. Maybe tap into more immature concerns people would have, like what your body count ranking is in your city/region/continent, adding a feature where you gain or lose status based on how frequently or infrequently you have sex with a new person and streaks for avoiding STDs or pregnancies. Make it as open as possible and tag actual people who are in the app for verified encounters. At the end of the day, people who care about body count tend to be loud about it.

Finally, the graphs look cool and the visualizations are well done from a technical standpoint, but there’s a grossness factor to all of this I can’t dismiss. Again, I’m not the target audience, but this feels like an app created by TikTok on-the-street interviews. I hope you all the success though.

"There's a grossness factor to all of this I can't dismiss."

:))

Body count?

Body count is the Gen Z/TikTok terminology to describe how many sexual partners a person has.

Thanks lol I was like is this dark humor but then I saw the URL so I was confusion

I've been told women care about their body count because they don't want to go over a certain arbitrary number, which is fair. That number will be inherently low so there's no need to track it.

As a guy, I don't have a limit but since I'm not chasing everything that walks, I don't really care about my number either. Having an actual list, seems like something a sociopath would do...

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